MANILA – A woman using a passport with a different name has been arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said Wednesday.
NBI Officer in Charge Eric B. Distor said Bainisin Pulna, a.k.a. Elsa Cornello Saladili, was stopped by immigration officers before her departure for Saudi Arabia via a Gulf Air flight at the NAIA Terminal 1 on April 16.
Pulna gave inconsistent and contradicting statements regarding her age during the secondary inspection.
She also told immigration officers that her father was a farmer and not an elementary school teacher, contradicting what was indicated in the birth certificate she presented.
Pulna said it was her first time to travel abroad, but a check with the Central Query Support System of the Bureau of Immigration showed otherwise.
The system showed there had been a prior departure and arrival of a certain Elsa Cornello Saladili, and the passport image on her current passport was different from the image on the passport used in her past travel.
Pulna was presented for inquest proceedings before the Office of the City Prosecutor, Pasay City, for violation of Section 19 (d)(1) of Republic Act 8239, or the Philippine Passport Act of 1996. (PNA)
